{"id":62,"date":"2024-03-24T14:24:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T18:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/?p=62"},"modified":"2024-04-06T17:00:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T21:00:48","slug":"travelling-abroad-gta-doctors-are-urging-to-pack-a-measles-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/2024\/03\/24\/travelling-abroad-gta-doctors-are-urging-to-pack-a-measles-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelling Abroad? GTA doctors are urging to pack a measles vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Written by Alexia Baggetta <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Infographic by Mehmet Oner<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With six of nine confirmed measles cases in the province affecting unvaccinated individuals, health officials are urgently advising travellers to get vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ontario Measles Update <\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/-\/media\/Documents\/M\/24\/measles-ontario-epi-summary.pdf?rev=c082f5ae0c6c446f9624d47b7e3c8535&amp;sc_lang=en\">Data from Public Health Ontario<\/a> (PHO) shows at least one confirmed case in every health unit across the province, except for Toronto Public Health (TPH), where two cases have been confirmed. Of these cases, three individuals required hospitalization.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/-\/media\/Documents\/M\/24\/measles-ontario-epi-summary.pdf?rev=c082f5ae0c6c446f9624d47b7e3c8535&amp;sc_lang=en\">update<\/a> shows seven measles cases are linked to travel outside Canada, while two cases have unknown sources of exposure, with no travel history or links to the confirmed cases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ontario\u2019s top doctor, Dr. Kieran Moore, told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/toronto\/ontario-measles-1.7122044#:~:text=world%2C%20including%20Europe.-,In%20a%20memo%20to%20public%20health%20units%2C%20Chief%20Medical%20Officer,where%20the%20virus%20is%20circulating.\">CBC<\/a> that vaccination is key to avoiding the disease, emphasizing that outbreaks can happen when unvaccinated or otherwise susceptible people travel to and from countries where the virus is circulating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"piktowrapper-embed\" data-uid=\"fe59a732283d-copy-subjective-global-assessment-report-template\"><\/div><script>(function(d){var js, id=\"pikto-embed-js\", ref=d.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0];if (d.getElementById(id)) { return;}js=d.createElement(\"script\"); js.id=id; js.async=true;js.src=\"https:\/\/create.piktochart.com\/assets\/embedding\/embed.js\";ref.parentNode.insertBefore(js, ref);}(document));<\/script>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vaccination Rates in Children<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/-\/media\/Documents\/I\/2023\/immunization-coverage-infant-childhood-2019-2022.pdf?rev=a0e297953e4f4752ad61c5290a2e27bb&amp;sc_lang=en\">report by PHO<\/a>, vaccination rates against measles have been mostly declining among kids, especially in the Greater Toronto Area. These declining rates are raising concerns among some of the public regarding the potential for increased measles outbreaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s up to parents to keep their kids up to date on their vaccines,\u201d David Colander, a resident in the Peel region said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know any better,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/-\/media\/Documents\/I\/2023\/immunization-coverage-infant-childhood-2019-2022.pdf?rev=a0e297953e4f4752ad61c5290a2e27bb&amp;sc_lang=en\">report<\/a> also said the percentage of seven-year-olds fully vaccinated for measles dropped from 80.2 per cent in the 2019-2020 school year to 38.9 per cent in the 2021-2022 school year. The gap is similar in Peel Region, where rates have fallen from 77.7 to 37.2 percent in the same time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What You Can Look Out For<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Health officials are recommending to check immunization records to make sure they are up to date on their measles vaccines, especially if summer vacation plans are in the works. Ontario residents are eligible for free measles vaccination.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Symptoms to be aware of include: high fever, cold-like symptoms, cough, runny nose, small spots with white centers inside the mouth, sore eyes or sensitivity to light and a red, blotchy rash lasting four to seven days.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/measles-hands-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A child's hands with red spots. \" class=\"wp-image-64\" srcset=\"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/measles-hands-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/measles-hands-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/measles-hands-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/measles-hands-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/197\/2024\/03\/measles-hands.jpg 1589w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A red, blotchy rash is one of the signs to look out for. [Image Source: Aurora Medical Centre]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not Everybody is Concerned<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite these urgent warnings, some individuals like Anthony Tamburro, a resident and daily commuter in the York Region area, are not overly concerned about the disease.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is unlike COVID-19 where we weren\u2019t too sure what to expect. Measles have been around forever, and we&#8217;ve had vaccines for just as long,\u201d Tamburro said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you&#8217;re vaccinated, there&#8217;s absolutely no reason for concern in my book.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by Alexia Baggetta Infographic by Mehmet Oner With six of nine confirmed measles cases in the province affecting unvaccinated individuals, health officials are urgently advising travellers to get vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.&nbsp; Ontario Measles Update Data from Public Health Ontario (PHO) shows at least one confirmed case in every health [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":851,"featured_media":63,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[27,28,24,30,26],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-doctor","tag-health","tag-measles","tag-ontario","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jn8201w2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}